Living For Today
by MarauderTielle
Summary: Hogwarts hasn't seen the likes of Lorcan and Lysander Scamander since the days of the Marauders. However will it survive these two idiotic boys,sons of Loony Lovegood? Set in their fifth year.
1. Chapter 1

**Hiya!**  
**New fic then.**  
**This one is a collaboration with my good friend Tielle Sommers. We will write every other chapter: I will write chapters from Lysander's POV, and she will write chapters from Lorcan's POV.**

**Rated K plus, but this may come to change (depending on Tielle's use of colourful words...).**

**Please do drop off a review and tell us what you think!**

**M. Sunshine**

The crash echoed nicely throughout the Scamanders' house. Sighing deeply, Lysander put his book down on his bed, stretched his arms and left his room to see what the entire ruckus was about. Heading along the softly carpeted hall, he trotted down the stairs, searching for whoever had made the loud noise.

"_Shit_." He heard someone exclaim, and rolled his eyes as he realised it was his twin brother, Lorcan. Well, there's a surprise, he thought with slight amusement. Obviously, the noise had come from the basement, where he was obviously doing something completely ridiculous. Lysander was used to his brother's idiotic antics, but the things he thought of doing often made him laugh out loud. Snickering, he pulled the door open and walked down the steady wooden staircase into the small room in the cellar. Lorcan was standing, bent over something, muttering under his breath. Lysander couldn't see what it was, and frowned.

"Lorc, what the hell are you doing?" His voice startled Lorcan, who jumped up and turned around, loosing his balance in the process, and neatly toppling over, landing with a thud on the dark floor.

"Bloody hell, Lys, give a man some warning." He growled, accepting his brother's hand and standing up.

"What are you up to?" he asked, ignoring Lorcan's remark. His face brightened considerably at his brother's interest (even though it was feigned), and motioned to the object standing behind him. It looked like a black, plastic box, with a number of dials and buttons on it.

"Erm… What is that?"

"It's an ampliflyer!" he said excitedly. "Muggles use it to plug these electic guitars into so they get way louder." Lysander looked sceptical.

"And you plan on using it?"

"Hell yeah!" He turned back to the strange contraption and began twiddling the dials again.

"But what was that crash?"

"Ah… Well, see, I was lifting it down the stairs and sort of dropped it. I think it's all right. It's heavier than it looks!" he added in defence as Lysander smirked at him.

"Whatever, Lorc. How did you get it by the way?"

"Found it in dad's storage room. He has tons of junk in there, but I can't think why he'd have on of these." As he spoke, he walked over to a large box and pulled out a dark red electric guitar. "Cool, eh?"

"Sure…" he agreed uncertainly. Lorcan pulled out a cord and plugged it into the amplifier (with some difficulty, as he tried pressing it into the speaker at first).

"Let's see…" He switched the thing on, and it made a loud peeping noise. And then…

KRRRAAAAANG! He'd pulled his fingers quickly across all the guitar's strings and the brawl it let out was almost unbearable. Lysander clutched his ears as he waited for Lorcan to turn it off. To his horror, he didn't, but instead grinned widely and started playing some fast rock-song.

"FOR THE LOVE OF MERLIN, TURN IT OFF!" Lysander yelled at the top of his voice. Lorcan played a few more notes, smirking smugly before he held the strings and switched the amplifier off. After such noise, both their ears were ringing, and Lysander blinked several times.

"If you, ever, turn that on again, I swear I'll turn you into a grasshopper." He threatened, before stomping upstairs. When reaching the hall, he realised his parents, Luna and Rolf, had both returned from Diagon Alley."

"What was that peculiar noise?" his mum enquired in a floating voice as she walked into the kitchen. Lysander followed.

"That was Lorcan, once again making a complete fool of himself." He answered good-naturedly.

"I see." She replied, tucking some herbs into a cupboard. "What is he up to this time then?" Lys rolled his eyes as his father entered the room.

"He found this… ampliflyer, I think it was called, and was-"

"He found what?" Rolf asked, looking gobsmacked.

"An ampliflyer. It's this thing that amplifies the sound from an electic guitar…"

"I know exactly what it is." He said, rubbing his forehead. "He got it from my store room, didn't he?"

"Naturally." Lysander replied with a small shrug. "Er, if you don't mind I was sort of reading and…" Luna smiled.

"Go on and continue then, love."

"Thanks mum." He grimaced and ram up the stairs, back into his room.

"I bet you have."

"Haven't."

"Have."

"Have _not_!"

"Come _on_, Lorc, you always forget something." Lysander said indignantly. They were sitting on the edge of the grass in front of the house, waiting to for their parents to come out and Apparate them to Kings Cross to finally get back to school. They would both be starting their fifth year, and neither of them could wait. For different reasons though: Lysander thought it would be interesting to study more advanced types of magic, and to sit his OWLs. Lorcan, however, merely wanted to get back to playing Quidditch and having girls run after him.

Lorcan huffed.

"At least I don't have mum help me pack." Lysander's cheeks turned the faintest pink.

"I just wanted to make sure I got everything." He said in a low voice. Lorc ruffled his hair.

"It's all right, little brother." This time, Lysander huffed.

"I'm ten times as mature as you."

"Oh yeah?"

"Easily." He confirmed, lying back on the soft grass and staring up at the house. It had been in his father's family for around three hundred years, and when his grandparents had got too old to keep it, they'd given it to Rolf Scamander. It was built with sandy coloured stone in odd shapes, and the front door was large and in dark, well-kept wood. It had two floors (not counting the cellar and attic), and contained five bedrooms, three bathrooms, a kitchen, a dining room, a living room, a study, a small library and a number of storage spaces. There were plenty of high and wide windows, as the Scamanders had been magizoologists for centuries, and enjoyed watching the forest and wildlife around them. It was altogether a very pretty building, and Lysander felt he really enjoyed the structure and architecture of it. Lorcan, of course, couldn't care less. He only complained he couldn't have a bigger room.

"Come on, Lys, they're here." He sat up and saw his parents exiting the house, Rolf locking the door with a sharp flourish of his wand.

"Come on, boys." He called and they both followed them towards the gates. The entire property was protected by the same kind of enchantment that protected Hogwarts: no one could Apparate in or out of the grounds. It wasn't just for safety: None of them wanted unwanted guests to Apparate straight into their house.

Once outside the gates, they stopped, and Lysander held his mother's arm lightly, his brother mirroring him but holding onto their dad. They both turned and they were all sucked away. Lysander had never liked Apparition, but he was intrigued by the fact that they could move so far in such little time. Suddenly, he could breathe again and they were standing behind a row of post boxes outside the station. Grabbing their trunks, Lys and Lorc walked quickly away from the small space and into the actual train station. They heard Rolf and Luna stroll behind them, but didn't exactly fancy walking with them. Soon enough they were in between platforms nine and ten, looking appreciatively at the brick wall between the two platforms.

"Pretty ingenious, this is." Lysander remarked. Lorc just rolled his eyes, and pulled his brother with him through to platform 9¾. The Hogwarts Express was gleaming and steaming, and students were chattering loudly as they boarded the handsome train. Lorcan didn't cast Lysander another look, but hurried forward to say hello to some of his mates. Lysander snorted, and waited for his parents to come through. They soon did, and he walked together with them towards the large crowd of witches and wizards. Lys soon spotted two of the boys he shared a dorm with: Benjamin "Ben" Ackerman and Eric Watson.

"Well, I'm going to head over to Ben and Eric." He said, hinting to his parents to leave. He was normally rather discrete; as he didn't want to hurt his mother's feelings (he nearly blushed thinking about it, but it was just the way it was).

"You do that. Have a nice term, and we'll see you at Christmas." Luna said cheerily, giving her son a small hug. "I take it Lorcan has disappeared?" Lys merely rolled his eyes in reply. "Well, we'll send him a letter."

"Sure. Bye dad." He waved to his father and then made his way towards his now waiting friends.

"Hey Lys!" Eric greeted, slapping his friend on the back.

"Hi Eric. Have a good summer?"

"Awesome. Went to visit my uncle in Wales. He has this huge house, honestly, I got lost more than once. The second time, I swear I saw a waterfall indoors…" Ben snorted.

"Sure you did."

"I swear!"

"Whatever." Lys sniggered.

"So, where's Lorc then?"

"I s'pose he's gone to find Louis." Lysander answered as they got on the train and started the search of an empty compartment. Louis Weasley was the fifth and final boy of the Ravenclaw fifth year dorm.

"Erm… Lys?" They had just entered an empty compartment, and Lys had sat down near the window immediately. "Well… You got the badge, right?"

"Yeah, s-… Shit!" He jumped up, yelling as he exited:

"Save me some Ice mice!" before hurrying to the prefect's carriage. He was the last person to enter, but no one seemed to notice: he made it in time, anyway. The Head Boy was a bossy looking boy from Gryffindor, called David Weeks, and he was currently standing by the window, his hands behind his back.

"Everyone here? Good." The Head Girl, Charlotte Wilson from Slytherin, came forward and stood with him. "Welcome to all new prefects, and welcome back to the rest of you. As you probably know, we have to patrol the corridors throughout the trip, and I will divide you into groups, each group responsible for a number of carriages."

"If anything were to happen, you have the authority to hand out detentions. Should you misuse this power, it will be immediately removed." Charlotte filled in, gazing at the other prefects. Lysander thought they were both a bit full of themselves, the way they were speaking, but all the same respected them for taking their job seriously.

"Scamander, you'll patrol carriages six to ten together with Haines." Timothy Haines was a fifth year Hufflepuff. Lysander didn't know him well, which was probably good. The two boys didn't wait for the others to get their numbers, but left the carriage and made their way down to carriage six while the train sped along.

"So…" Timothy said.

"Yup." Lys answered. An awkward reply, but he felt as cool as ever.

"Who else got the badge in Ravenclaw then?" he asked as they strolled along the corridor.

"Miranda Parker." He replied. Miranda was probably the bitchiest girl in Ravenclaw. Her blonde hair as fake as the curls Rita Skeeter had once sported, and her smile as feigned as the laughter that accompanied it.

"She nice?" Lysander was starting to get annoyed. He'd hoped he'd be able to do this job in some kind of silence, and Haines' questions were irritating him to no end.

"All right, I suppose." He replied curtly, sternly ordering two first years to stop jabbing their wands into a poor cat's furry back.

"You single then?"

"Listen, mate, no offence, but I don't fancy answering any more questions." He snapped. Timothy opened his mouth to say something, but quickly closed it again and let the silence remain. Thank Merlin.

They kept patrolling for the next three hours before they were let off by the next couple of prefects. Lysander told Timothy a short "later", and then rushed off to find his friends. It didn't take him long to locate them: the laughter echoing from their compartment was loud enough to scare the younger students who passed. As he was about to open the door, a jet of red light hit the door and rebounded. It then hit the window, and rebounded again, making the light bounce back and forth. Lysander groaned. They really were remarkably stupid to all the Ravenclaws. When the light left the door, he yanked it open, flicked out his wand and said:

"_Finite_." The light popped and disappeared. He tucked his wand away again. "You really are complete morons. You'd better watch it, or I'll dock points."

"Sure you will, from your own house." Lorc scoffed.

"Ah, well, maybe not." He replied, grinning widely as he settled in and joined his friends all catching up. Feels good to be going back.


	2. Chapter 2

**Hey! So yeah, I'm working on a new fic with my awesome friend, Maya Sunshine. We're both uploading, so if you've seen this fic before on her profile, no worries!**

**I take it you read her little intro, so I'll stop rambling and let you get on with my first contribution to this fic! Enjoy!**

**Tielle, x**

* * *

_Thud._

Lorcan heaved his trunk out off of the train with some help from Louis, and trudged towards the carriages, shooting a cheeky grin at every girl he saw on his way.

"Dude, that was a second year." Louis exclaimed, slapping his mate on the arm.

"So?" He replied, giving a quick nod to a Ravenclaw girl in the year below him, who turned to her friend and started giggling.

Louis stopped him walking and gave him a disgusted look. "You have a girlfriend!" He said, as though this was stating the obvious.

"Nah, not anymore." He sighed, putting his trunk in the luggage carriage and jumping into another, Louis right behind him. "Broke up couple of days ago."

"What happened this time?" Louis asked in a bored monotone voice, resting his head on his hand.

"Fuck 'em and chuck 'em." Lorcan shrugged.

Louis rolled his eyes just as Lysander entered the carriage with Ben and Eric following suit.

"Oh, you're in here." Lys said. "I wondered why there were a load of giggling girls arguing outside."

Lorc laughed and patted his brother on the arm. "A feeling you'll never know." He mock-sighed.

"Oh, shut up." Lys huffed, crossing his arms.

The carriage started moving and Lorc looked out of the window. "Hey," he started, "She's pretty cute."

Ben, Eric and Louis all moved to the window, pushing and shoving each other to see her, making Lys roll his eyes behind their backs. Lorcan winked at her, and she gave him a what-the-hell look before turning away quickly to get in a carriage of her own with one of her friends.

"She wants me." He said, straightening his collar and sleeves with a manly cough, earning him another eye-roll from his twin brother. "Problem, Lys?" He asked.

"Nope. I just think the way you treat females is terrible." He said, speaking as though this was in everyday conversation.

Lorcan shot a glare at his brother and sat there silently for the rest of the trip. When the carriage finally arrived outside the castle, he hopped out and started walking towards the queue to get inside without waiting for anybody, except Louis who was used to him storming off and had followed him at a quick pace.

It was dark and there were owls hooting in the distance from the forest and that familiar sound of crickets in the grass that gave Hogwarts it's homey atmosphere.

"Hey, Lorcan." One girl smiled from his right. She was standing in a group of girls, all of them brunettes.

He gave her a quick nod and looked back towards the front of the queue on tip-toes. "Who was that?" He muttered to Louis, nonchalantly.

"Not a clue." He replied, shaking his head.

People could normally tell the brothers apart from their hair. Lorcan usually stuck his hair up with gel, whereas Lysander kept his naturally messy.

They eventually got into the Great Hall and took a seat in the middle of the Ravenclaw Table, as always. Lorc was still a little fumed at his brother's comment, but decided to let it go the minute he realised Lysander was right. That was one thing that Lorc often thought, but never admitted to.

A blonde girl of around the same age as the boys bounced over to them and smiled.

"Billie!" Lorcan grinned, picking her up and swinging her around, then sitting back down, gesturing for her to sit next to him.

Billie Scamander was Lorc and Lysander's first cousin from their father's side. She was in their year and house and often spent time with them.

The hall turned silent as the giant doors to the Great Hall burst open and the tiny first years followed little Professor Flitwick down the Great Hall. He was carrying the stool which the first years sat on, which was almost the same size as him.

Lorcan looked around the hall and spotted the girl he'd winked at from the carriage talking with her friend at the Gryffindor table. She was blonde, almost bleach, but it suited her. She'd tied it up since he saw her earlier, now it was in a low side-ponytail. She hadn't overdone her makeup, either. She looked... Decent. The fact that she didn't praise the ground he walked on actually somewhat bothered Lorcan. "Hey, it's her!" Lorcan whispered to Louis, who looked over his shoulder very obviously towards the Gryffindor table.

The girl looked up with a curious expression and Lorcan looked away quickly. "Way to go, moron." He snapped at Louis.

Lysander, who had heard their hushed conversation, looked subtly over his shoulder. "The blonde talking to the redhead?" He asked his brother. After Ben, Eric, Louis and Lorcan had pressed themselves against the window to look at her earlier, Lysander hadn't got the chance to see who it was.

"Yeah." Lorcan whispered with a faint smile.

"Dude, that's Ellie Fitzgerald." He shook his head. "You'd never get a girl like her."

Lorcan looked over his shoulder again and studied her for a minute. "Why?"

His question wasn't answered by his brother, because just then, the boy sitting to the right of her, David Weeks the Head Boy, casually flung an arm around her shoulder and pecked her on the cheek. _I guess that's why not_, he thought, sighing and looking at his hands resting on the table.

After the sorting was finished and the Headmistress, Professor McGonagall, had made a welcome/welcome back speech, dinner was served. Lorcan shook all thoughts of Ellie from his head and concentrated on stuffing his face.

His plate was clean in five minutes, and he wiped his mouth on the back of his sleeve earning him a disgusted look from Lysander. Finding nothing else to do, he scanned through the faces sitting at the Ravenclaw table, and spotted Damon Fletcher. He was a seventh year Ravenclaw, and the Quidditch Team Captain.

Both Lorc and Lys played quidditch on the school team as chasers, and loved every second of it. They'd been flying for as long as they could remember. It was definitely one of the few things the boys had in common.

People started departing from the Hall, and one girl caught Lorcan's eye. She was wearing Hufflepuff robes and was with two other girls. He was sure she wasn't in his year, but didn't really care. Lorcan patted his stomach. "That was good eatin'." He proved his comment by burping rather loudly, earning himself disgusted stares from the girl's friends, but a giggle from her. He grinned and gave a fake yawn, stretching his arms above his head. "Wow, I'm tired..."

"Lorcan, just go and ask her out." Billie sighed, giving her cousin an eye roll.

"Well, in that case... See ya." He rushed, quickly pecking her on the cheek, jumping up and walking casually towards the three girls, greeting them with a large grin.

* * *

The next morning, Lorcan was woken by two hands roughly shaking him. "Get up!" The voice belonging to the same person as the hands was yelling.

"Mum, I don't wanna go to school today..." He mumbled.

"Lorc, you absolute prick."He muttered, waving his hand in the air in front of him. "You stink of firewhisky."

"My head hurts..." Lorc mumbled back.

"It's called a hangover." Lys said, rolling his eyes. "I presume this isn't yours?" He asked, picking up a frilly pink bra from the end of Lorc's bedpost.

Lorcan eyed it, confused. He put his hand on his forehead and sat up, turning to step out of bed and knocking over several empty glass bottles with his bare feet. "Bloody hell." He exclaimed loudly, regretting it at once after his head started thumping. "How many did I have?"

"Too bloody many, as usual." Lys shook his head. "C'mon, we have to get down to breakfast. Shove on some clothes and get your arse out of bed."

"Fuck off, mate. I'm staying in bed." Lorcan rubbed his forehead and put his legs back under the covers, shoving his head under his pillow in hopes of getting rid of his pounding headache.

Lys shook his head and stalked from the dormitories, leaving Lorcan alone. Or so he thought.

The Hufflepuff girl Lorcan had met the previous day came out of the bathroom wearing one of Lorcan's t-shirts and a pair of his shorts. "Is he gone?" She smiled.

He sat up quickly, staring at the girl leaning against the doorframe: Emily Jessop. His headache continued thumping and he sighed deeply. That was a close one.


	3. Chapter 3

**Here we are! Updates might be a bit speedy, just because we write every other chapter, which gives it all an interesting twist (writing-wise, anyway XD).**  
**Hope you all like it, and do leave a review.**

**Enjoy!**

**M. Sunshine**

* * *

Lysander stomped through the Common Room and headed to breakfast. Sometimes, Lorcan is a real git, he thought, fuming at his daft brother with a hangover, lying in bed with some girl's bra as his company. Bloody idiot. He sat down in the middle of the Ravenclaw table, joining Louis, Ben and Eric, who were chatting noisily about a Quidditch game.

"I am telling you, England will win!" Ben said, determinedly banging his fist onto the wood. Lys rolled his eyes.

"Listen, Ben, I want England to win too, but face it, Wales' team is just…" Eric gestured with his hands. "Their seeker is bloody brilliant, and have you _seen_ their beaters work?" His eyes were wide as he tried to make his friend realise that he, Eric, was right.

"Eric…"

"Can we just leave this?" Louis said, rolling his eyes at Lys. "You've been at this for, like, twenty minutes now, and it's sort of making me go mental." Ben folded his arms defiantly, but Eric just shook his head.

"You'll eat your words." He said as a final comment. Ben snorted.

"So, where's Lorc?" Louis said, but with a smirk on his face. As if you don't know. He got piss drunk with _you_, bloooooody hell…

"He's in bed, with a headache and a pink bra." Lys replied matter-of-factly, taking a sip of his coffee. Eric almost choked on his juice, while Ben looked rather amused.

"_Really_? That's not like him." Louis said with feigned anxiety. Lys knotted his eyebrows together.

"I know. Should we tell professor Flitwick?" Ben burst out laughing.

"Who's he shagged this time then?" he asked casually, earning him a few shocked stares from their younger housemates.

"No idea. She'd already left." Lysander answered, his voice rather icy. He and his brother got along fine, normally, even though Lorcan often was a complete prick. What Lysander _did not_ like, though, was his falling into bed with every other girl, as well as getting completely wasted at least once a week.

"I'll ask him for details later." Louis grinned. Lysander didn't respond. Professor Flitwick was now walking along the table, handing out their timetables. Lys had always enjoyed this part. He pretty much liked all classes, and liked to see which house he would be sharing the different classes with. Eventually, the short professor stopped in front of him.

"Yes, yes, I was very pleased with your Charms results, Mr Scamander, very pleased indeed…"

"Thank you, sir." The man tapped the parchment with his wand and handed it to Lys before moving on. He looked down at the appearing writing. In twenty minutes he had… Double Potions. With the Slytherins. How bloody brilliant.

* * *

"I _hate_ those fucking snakes!" Louis practically screamed. He was sitting with Lysander and Ben on the floor outside the dungeon classroom, having just been sent out.

"Join the club." Ben muttered. It was hardly their fault. They'd been brewing a very difficult potion (The Draught of Living Death, which was normally not taught until in your sixth year, at the very earliest) and Lysander had been crushing Sopophorous beans when he'd noticed the others whispering. Lorcan had not made an appearance (for which Lys was glad, as he wasn't entirely sure if would be able to refrain from punching him if he saw him), but Louis and Ben were obviously up to something. He'd continued with his work, until he heard the word: dung bomb. Whipping around, he stared disbelievingly at his two mates. No way. He almost knocked his copy of Advanced Potion Making off the table as he grabbed Louis' wrist.

"_No_." he hissed, glaring at the boy. "You'll get us all in trouble. It's not worth it."

"Stuff it, Lys." He'd muttered back, eyeing Professor Craig carefully. "Those gits deserve it." He was staring murderously at Devon Parkinson and Alec Nott, the two boys who had been in the lead while making life miserable for the Ravenclaw boys. It wasn't as if they'd ever done anything to them. What was wrong with them, anyway? Wasn't the hostility mainly between _Gryffindor_ and Slytherin? There they'd been, minding their own business and suddenly… BAM! They'd hexed them in a corridor in their first year, and that was it: war.

"I'm not saying they don't, but come on, it's our first day back, and we mustn't ever start it." Lysander hated the Slytherin boys with every inch of his being, but he was _not_ prepared to become a bully. Unfortunately, though, Ben had seized the moment and grabbed the dung bomb from Louis' hand and thrust it into their cauldron. It exploded, and the half finished potion along with an awful stench spread in the room. A few girls screamed, and a large number of boys swore with a most creative air.

"Settle down, settle down." Craig thundered. People calmed, but there was still a revolting mess on one of the tables, as well as the smell. The professor flicked his wand, banishing the ruined potion, before repairing the cauldron and magically chasing the smell out of the door. He then turned to the four Ravenclaw boys. Eric was looking bored, but the Potions Master knew just who was responsible.

"Mr Ackerman, Mr Weasley and Mr Scamander. Please step outside for the rest of the lesson." Lysander's mouth dropped open at his words.

"But professor, I didn't-"

"Outside."

"But sir-

"Go!" He clamped his mouth shut, seething internally, and trudged after his friends out in the chilly (and slightly smelly) corridor, as the door was slammed shut behind them. And that was it.

"Didn't I tell you not to do it?" Lysander snapped. "If you would just listen, for once…"

"Oh, shut your cake hole, Lys." Ben sighed. "Don't pretend you don't think they were in for it."

"They didn't do us anything, Ben!" he exclaimed, exasperated. "We can't go bullying them, that makes us just as bad as them." Louis scoffed.

"Hardly. They're slimy snakes."

"You are _so_ prejudiced. The Slytherins aren't all bad."

"Lys, _please_ stop trying to be so diplomatic." Ben groaned.

"I am being rational and realistic! You two are being bloody morons!" Just then the door opened, and students started filing out, giving the three irritated looks, and whispering.

"Say that to my face!" Louis suddenly exclaimed, jumping up and walking closer to Alec and Devon, who'd been muttering in hushed voices.

"Is there a problem, Mr Weasley?" They spun around to see Professor Craig standing in the doorway, his hands on his back.

"They're… Oh, never mind." Louis grumbled. Craig was the Head of Slytherin House (of course), and he hardly expected him to dock any points from his own house.

"I should think not. Please, do come in." The sarcasm was evident, even though it wasn't obvious. The three boys kept from rolling their eyes and followed the man back into the dimly lit classroom. The Potions Master folded his arms across his chest and eyed them thoughtfully. "I don't understand this." He said suddenly. "You're all rather bright, and yet you taint your names with these theatrics." He shook his head. "It's a shame."

"Sir, we-" He held up a hand.

"I actually didn't think you would get up to something like this without Mr Scamander." They looked confused for a second before realising he was referring to Lorcan. "As a matter of fact, why has your brother not honoured us with his presence?" Lysander groaned mentally.

"He… He isn't feeling well, sir."

"I see. And did he go to the Hospital Wing?" he enquired, still looking mildly interested.

"No, sir. You see, he was feeling slightly… faint, and so he stayed in bed."

"And he failed to report this to professor Flitwick, I presume?"

"I guess so. Sir." He added. Craig didn't acknowledge him.

"Right, well, I shall be having a chat with your Head of House about your brother. And also, thirty points from Ravenclaw for disturbance. Do it again, and you will find yourself in detention for longer than you'd like. Oh, and zero for today's work. For all of you." Lysander felt like he might cry. He had actually been doing well, and because of his "friends'" brilliant plan he would now get a zero.

"Please, sir, I-"

"I think you need to get to your next class, Mr Scamander." Professor Craig said firmly as Louis and Ben eagerly left.

"Professor Craig, I tried to stop them! I didn't want any of this!"

"I'm sure you didn't. Now run along." He had no option but to leave in a huff to fetch his Divination books.

* * *

At dinner, Lorcan finally sauntered into the Great Hall, looking slightly green, but with a smug expression.

"Nice with the dung bomb." He said, directed at Louis.

"Thanks, mate." He grinned back. Lysander almost shook with suppressed fury.

"All right, Lys?" Lorcan said casually, piling up qourn-wanting-to-be-chicken on his plate, together with loads of rice and vegetables. Lysander slammed his fork down.

"No, I am not, actually." He hissed, trying _very_ hard not to yell. The last thing he wanted was to cause a scene. Little did he know…

"Jeez, bro, keep your hair on. What's up?"

"What's up? _What's up?_ Oh, let's see… You convince your idiot friend ("Hey!" Louis exclaimed) to ruin Potions class because you couldn't do it yourself, and get me in trouble because I tried to stop it and then come in here and act like _nothing_?"

"Bloody hell, Lys, calm it." Lorcan said, raising his eyebrows. The people sitting closest to them were now throwing them occasional glances, looking confused yet interested. "I can't help I was sick…"

"Sick?" Lysander was yelling at this point, and half of the Great Hall were watching them interestedly. "_Sick_? You were piss drunk, you blasted moron!" Lysander stood up, and naturally, Lorcan followed suit.

"Quiet." He muttered in a dangerously low voice.

"No, I will not! Because of you and your brilliant plan, I got a zero on today's work and very nearly a detention! Why can't you, for once, keep your pants on and your mind straight! Save us all the trouble!" A few students snickered. "I am sick of having to deal with your insolence and making excuses for why you are not in class! I should just tell them the truth!"

"Well you're pretty much done it now, haven't you? Fucking moron, honestly Lys! I haven't done _anything_ to you." Lysander clenched his hands into tight fists, his fingernails digging deep into his palms. Unsure if he would be able to stop himself from hexing Lorc, he turned on his heel and marched towards the exit. He heard talking behind him, and caught the words "He's gone completely fucking mad now, he has" coming from Lorc. That did it. All logic and respect for rules blown out of the window, he spun around and shot a non-verbal stinging hex at his brother, who yelped when it hit him on the shoulder. By then, the teachers had had enough. Professor Flitwick was yelling at them, but not coming closer (the other teachers often took care of fights, just because of Flitwick's unfortunate size: students were all taller than him). Professor Craig (of course!) stood, and was striding, with purpose, towards the Ravenclaw table. Lysander turned to leave, but heard his name being called. Stupid as he was, he ignored it and left the Hall in complete silence.

* * *

A hand grabbed his robes from behind. Feeling incredibly vexed, Lysander turned with an icy glare. Eric lifted his hands and backed a few steps.

"Easy there, mate. Professor McGonagall wants you." Lys grumbled, but knew he'd have no choice but to do as requested.

"Of course she does." He muttered. "Thanks." He added grudgingly.

"Any time, mate." He heard Eric murmur from behind him, as Lys made his way down the corridor and stopped in front of the gargoyle, realising he didn't have the password. Of course, the Headmistress already knew he was there, and the stone monster jumped aside, revealing the doorway and the rotating staircase that lead to the dreaded office. Arriving at the door, he was just about to knock when the door was yanked open from the inside. A livid Professor Craig appeared, snatching Lysander by the scruff of his neck and pushing him inside. He almost tripped over his own feet, but managed to regain his balance just in time. In the office was Professor McGonagall behind her desk, Flitwick standing by the fireplace and Lorcan, sitting on a hard wooden chair in front of the desk.

"Ah, Mr Scamander." McGonagall said in an even voice.

"Professor." He replied through gritted teeth, sitting down in the just-conjured chair that appeared next to Lorcan's. He pointedly ignored his brother's looks.

"I _cannot_ believe this." Professor Craig fumed. "First he causes ruckus in my classroom and then he displays such behaviour in the middle of the Great Hall. I am appalled!" He was obviously speaking about Lys, who folded his arms and refused to say a word.

"Mr Scamander," McGonagall said, looking at Lys as to not cause any confusion, "Would you care to tell me what happened?" After years of dealing with teenagers, she had gained some patience as well as understanding. But this didn't mean she _accepted_ any of it.

"Now, or in Potions?" he replied, trying not to sound terribly rude.

"How about we start with Potions." She suggested.

"Fine." He said. "Louis and Ben planned on chucking a dung bomb in a cauldron. I tried to stop them, but Ben managed to grab it and throw it anyway. Then I got to take the blame together with them because Professor Craig wasn't paying attention and is determined to believe that I am equally as much of an idiot as my brother." Professor Craig gasped (Merlin, what a dramatic man!).

"Excuse me, young man?" He thundered.

"Please, professor." McGonagall said, with her special voice that demands to be obeyed. Professor Craig shut his mouth. Wise decision, Lys thought, trying not to smirk. He didn't at all regret hexing his brother. It had actually felt pretty good. She turned her attention back to Lys.

"I see. And at dinner?"

"I was merely expressing my being displeased with the way my git of a brother is acting. Professor." He added at her raised eyebrow.

"Well then. And you hexing was an appropriate way of dealing with things, you thought?" Lys almost blushed at the admonishment. McGonagall shook her head. "Will I ever understand boys?"

"I am very disappointed." Flitwick squeaked. "I thought better of you, Mr Scamander."

"I'm sorry, sir." He replied in a monotone voice.

"Twenty points from Ravenclaw. And a week's worth of detentions, I think." Then she turned to Lorcan. "And for you, Mr Scamander… Another twenty points, and also a week's worth of detentions." Lorcan looked outraged.

"But, professor, I didn't even-"

"You caused all this trouble in the first place!" the irate Headmistress interrupted sternly. "And from what I understood, you have been drinking fair amounts of alcohol, which you should know is prohibited." She didn't mention the sleeping around part, but Lysander was pleased to understand that she knew very well about it, thank you very much. "Both your detentions will be served with Professor Craig, who has more than one reason to be affronted by your behaviour. Would you like to add anything, Filius?"

"I think that will do fine, Minerva." Lysander smiled internally. He knew his Head of House was rather fond of both him and Lorcan, and didn't like punishing them.

"Very well. Both of you get back to Ravenclaw Tower. And try to not destroy the castle." Lysander snorted, and lunged out of the room before Lorcan had even realised he was allowed to leave.


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: Bad Romance belongs to Lady Gaga.**

**You'll see what I mean xD**

**Anyway, enjoy the chapter!**

**Tielle, xx**

* * *

Lorcan's quick and determined steps smacked loudly on the stone floor as he flung around the castle, looking for his disappeared brother. Obviously neither of them were going back to Ravenclaw Tower. Since when had Scamanders done as they were told?

Lorcan decided to check the place his brother always went, but where he himself spent very little time: The Library. He turned the last corner and walked in, seeing his brother instantly. The Library was due to close in ten minutes, so not many people were about. He pulled up a chair opposite him at the table and sat on it.

"Lys?" He asked slowly.

"Don't talk to me." He replied through gritted teeth, picking the book he was currently reading up from the table and holding it in front of his face, though not so close that he couldn't read it.

"Please talk to me?" Lorcan asked quietly.

No answer.

"Fine. I'm sorry I got wasted again. I'm sorry I fucked Ebony..."

"Emily." His brother corrected automatically, before mentally kicking himself, the pair receiving a disgusted look from the greying librarian, Madame Prince.

"_Emily_," he corrected, "And I'm sorry even though I wasn't there I got you into trouble. I promise... Well, not promise, but..."

"Save your breath." Lys interrupted, slamming his book shut and storming from the Library with it under his arm.

Lorc slouched back in his chair in slight bewilderment, one thought flashing through his mind: '_That went well._' He sighed deeply and shook his head.

Lorcan retreated to the Common Room and went straight to the dorms, where he found Ben, Eric and Louis. They all stopped talking automatically as he entered and, saying nothing, he took his shirt off and chucked it on his bed before walking to his trunk to pull out a clean one.

"Lorc..." Louis started, sounding unsure.

"I've had it with him." He said furiously, pulling his clean shirt over his head roughly, and re-ruffling his hair. "It's as if he thinks I _want_ to fall out with him. Jerk."

Just then, Lysander came out of the bathroom, not acknowledging his brother's presence. "Anyone seen my toothbrush?" He asked, obviously pretending he hadn't heard Lorc.

"Checked your arse?" Lorcan asked sarcastically, then realising that they were wearing the same shirt, stripped his off again, getting yet another out of his trunk.

Lysander ignored him and Eric answered. "Yeah, I put it in the cupboard." He said it quietly, as if him being loud would start off a full on argument and fist fight between the Scamander twins.

"Ah, thanks." Lys said, nodding and returning to the bathroom. The dorm was awkwardly silent and the only sound that could be heard was a tap running and Lys brushing his teeth, then spitting, then the tap being turned off.

Lorcan jumped on his bed and lay facing the ceiling, his hands behind his head. "Ah. What a day." He sighed deeply, closing his eyes for a few seconds. The tension was so thick, it pressed on his ears, and he opened his eyes to see his brother glaring daggers at him.

Lorcan sat up and faced him. "C'mon, Lys. I said I was sorry. What more do you want?"

"Hrm, let me think." Lysander said sarcastically, making a mock-thinking face. "Oh, I know. Maybe for you to stop sleeping around, stop getting off your face and getting yourself into trouble then dragging me down with you." He finished, breathless slightly as he was so mad he'd forgotten to breathe.

Lorcan pouted slightly and looked sadly at his brother, earning himself an eye roll. "Lorc, we're not three." He sighed.

He carried on pouting, and the corners of Lysander's mouth twitched. Eventually he grinned. "Fine. You're forgiven." He rolled his eyes and Lorcan jumped off of his bed and over to his brother, and pulled him into a tight hug.

"Gerroff!" He mumbled. Eventually, he managed to push his laughing brother off him and land him on the hard floor.

"Ouch!"

"Serves you right." He smirked, just before dodging a flying pillow.

* * *

The following morning, the five boys all trooped down to breakfast just after seven o'clock, all of them yawning regularly. Even in this tired state, Lorcan managed to direct cheeky winks at most of the passing girls. Louis snickered, but Lys eyed him disapprovingly.

"What if you totally offend someone?" His brother asked as they took their seats.

"Nah, won't happen." Lorc replied nonchalantly, waving his hand dismissively at Lysander.

"And you know this how?"

"Because every girl that goes to this school" he said, "Praises the ground I walk on."

Lys rolled his eyes. "Sure."

"They do!" He said, in a slightly offended tone, resting his elbows on the table and looking directly at his brother. When he didn't answer, Lorcan sighed and decided a change of subject was in order.

"What do you reckon Craig will make us do for detention?" He asked, grabbing a plain bagel and biting into it.

Lysander shrugged and, without realising that Lorcan had taken one, took a bagel too. "Not a clue."

They found out a few hours later, though.

It was twenty five past seven in the evening, and the boys decided they should make their way to the Hospital Wing, where they'd been told to meet Professor Craig at seven thirty, on the dot, no excuses.

They entered the room to find him standing there looking at his watch. "And with ten seconds to spare." He said, without even cracking a smile. He was standing directly in the middle of the Hospital Wing, with two identical buckets next to him, with identical mops hovering in each of them, obviously with magic.

Looking at them, he said, "You shall clean the entire floor. That includes moving beds and cabinets. You have until ten. You may start. And no talking."

Professor Craig was gone with a swish of a cloak. Lorcan and Lysander looked at each other. "This is bull." Lorc concluded, earning a nod in agreement from Lys. The boys walked forward, both grabbing the same mop handle at the same time.

"I wanted this one!" Lorc said, tightening his grip.

"I saw it first! Besides, they're exactly the same! Just take that one!"

"If they're exactly the same, then _you_ take it!" He said, pulling the mop handle in his direction and splashing some water onto the floor.

"Great going." Lys snapped, pulling the handle in his direction, tipping the bucket over. Both boys leapt away from the forming puddle.

"Great going." Lorcan repeated in a really bad imitation of his brother's voice.

"Oh, ha-ha." Lysander rolled his eyes. "Fine, you can have the mop. We'll share the bucket."

Lorcan shrugged and took the mop, dipping it in the bucket and slapping it on the floor. They'd been mopping for about half an hour when they realised that they'd been mopping inwards and were stranded unless they walked over the wet floor, which would mean re-cleaning it later.

Lysander huffed. They'd got a lot done in that thirty minutes.

Lorcan grinned and spun around his mop. "_Rah-rah-ah-ah-ah, Roma-Roma-ma-ah, Ga-ga-ooh-la-la! __Want your bad romance..._" He sang loudly, grinning. If they had to clean the Hospital wing, they were going to do it the fun way.

"Lorc, what the the..." Lys started, but was interrupted by his brother.

"_I want your ugly, I want your disease. I want your everything as long as it's free, I want your love, love-love-love, I want your love..._"

Lysander rolled his eyes and laughed, hesitating then singing out: "_I want your drama, the touch of your hand. I want you leather studded kiss in the sand_."

"_I want your love. Love-love-love, I want your love_." Lorcan skidded across the floor on his knees, mop still in hand.

"_You know that I want you_..."

"_And you know that I need you_..."  
"_I want a bad, your bad romance_!" Lysander finished his little verse, then skidded to where his brother was still sitting on his knees.

"_I want your loving and I want your revenge, you and me could write a bad romance!"_

"_Walk walk fashion baby, work it move that bitch crazy, walk, walk fashion baby, work it, move that bitch crazy, work it_..."

Lysander jumped up and belted out: "I'M A FREE BITCH BABY! I want yo..." he stopped at the look Lorcan was giving. The kind of shut-up-right-now-and-look-in-the-same-direction-as-me look. Lysander looked towards the doors where Professor Craig stood, watching them with his mouth in an 'O' shape.

Lorcan stood slowly, the corners of his mouth twitching, trying not to laugh.

"What in Merlin's name is going on in here?" Craig finally spluttered. He wasn't angry. He was furious.

Lysander had never been this shade of red before. His cheeks were so red, Lorcan was sure he could feel the heat coming off of them. Then, out of nowhere, Lorc started laughing extremely loudly, practically crying with laughter. He managed to calm himself, finishing with a loud snort, and biting his knuckles to restrain himself from laughing again.

"Come with me. Now." Craig demanded, turning on the spot and walking from the hospital wing. Lorc and Lys followed suit slowly. In a low tone, Lorcan muttered to Lys: "And it's _I'm a freak bitch, baby_. Not a free bitch." He rolled his eyes and laughed despite the fact that they were in more trouble than before.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

Lysander stood there like an idiot, staring at his fuming professor. Lorcan nudged him in an attempt to get him to say something.

"Mr Scamander and Mr Scamander, follow me." Craig finally said, his voice clouded with pure fury. Lysander felt almost like whimpering. It was ridiculous really: they'd been doing their job, just having some fun at the same time. What harm had it caused, really?

"But sir…"

"I advise you to keep quiet, young man; you're in enough trouble as it is. Now follow me." Lysander bit back a cheeky retort and pulled his brother along as they followed the irate professor. Out of the infirmary they walked, and started down the stairs for the Potions master's office. Lysander let out a breath he hadn't known he'd been holding. Well, at least they weren't heading for McGonagall's office. Though, honestly, he thought she might've actually allowed herself to smile at it, rather than get even angrier. So, as soon as that light feeling had appeared it vanished again, and he was dreading their arrival at the man's study.

The door was thrust open and the twin boys walked in first and the door was slammed shut behind them as Professor Craig proceeded to stand behind his dark, wooden desk. His dark eyes gazed down on them, and Lysander felt about three inches tall.

"What," he said in a slow and low voice, "Was the meaning of _that_?" He needn't clarify what 'that' was.

"I… I mean we were…" Lorcan said, a small crease on his forehead, as he was struggling with what to say. Neither of the boys thought what they'd done warranted this serious air. Honestly, they'd been fooling around, but they'd done it while working, so what was the problem?

"Yes?"

"We were messing around." He finally settled with.

"Yes I noticed." He answered coolly. "Maybe it escaped _your_ notice, but mopping and cleaning the Hospital wing was a detention. Detention as in punishment."

"Really? I thought we were doing it for fun." Lorcan replied, a nonchalant look on his face to match his sarcastic tone.

"Ten points from Ravenclaw. And I suggest you check your attitude unless you want to face more severe consequences than a few detentions." Lysander felt a strong urge to bang his brother's head into the wall, but resisted it by pinching himself. "As the two of you obviously have some problems with concentrating on the task at hand, you will be doing lines with me instead. And it is now two weeks of detentions rather than one."

"Oh, _bloody_ hell!"

"Would you like to make that three, Mr Scamander?"

"No, sir." Lorcan ground out after a short moment's hesitation.

"I thought not." The teacher flicked out his wand, and two desks appeared behind the boys, with accompanying chairs, parchment, quill and ink. "Sit." Lysander hurried to sit down, while Lorcan took the time to throw Craig a contemptuous look before he sat down. "I want you both to write 'I shall not act like a six year old while serving a detention', 200 times." Lysander breathed heavily through his nose, his eyes fixed on the yellowish parchment. His temper often got the better of him, but he wouldn't let it let it get to him, not that evening. So, Lys took a deep breath and dipped the quill into the black liquid.

**L&L**

"I think my hand might fall off." Lorcan whinged as they made their way back to Ravenclaw tower. Lysander snorted.

"Stuff a sock in it. You got us into this." Lorcan spluttered a bit and stared in disbelief at his brother.

"_I got us into it?_ Who was it that bellowed out the last line? And incorrectly, I might add." Lysander stopped and spun around, facing his brother, once again feeling the anger fill his head.

"I accept that I was an idiot, too, but you could've done better in Craig's office. Besides, we wouldn't have had detention in the first place if you would have just acted like a normal person."

"You amaze me." He blurted out. "We are equally at fault here. You can't keep blaming me for everything that goes wrong. Just admit to yourself that even though you're a prefect and teacher's pet you're not perfect." The words stung Lysander as he stared into the eyes of his identical brother. They stood in silence for a few moments before Lysander turned his back on Lorcan and ran up the last flight of stairs and into the Common room. He didn't stop until he was in his dorm, the door safely slammed behind him. He was trembling with suppressed rage and confusion, torn between wanting desperately to speak to Lorcan and to hex him into next week. With a frustrated growl he threw himself on the bed, covered in a dark blue bedspread. The door opened, but he didn't take any notice of it, and eventually he fell asleep, exhausted from the day's events.

**L&L**

The days passed in a slow and dull pace, and Lys had to endure hours of writing lines each night. They changed now and then, but honestly, that much writing would make anyone go mental. Finally, Saturday came, and Lysander was grateful to stay in bed for longer. Not until it approached ten o'clock did he start moving to get out of bed. On his left he saw Lorc still fast asleep under his duvet. They'd barely been speaking during the past week, only ever really being close to each other while at detention. Lys still couldn't make himself forgive his brother: the anger was too deeply rooted. Sighing, he swung his legs out of bed and started getting dressed.

The Great Hall was still pretty full when Lysander entered, heading for the Ravenclaw table. He didn't see anyone of interest, and so he sat by himself, snatching up a forgotten Daily Prophet. Nothing interesting, he noted. Everything felt so boring at the moment: because of the brothers' refusal to speak to one another, the other three boys of the dorm had started hanging out without them, in a silent kind of protest. Lorcan and Lysander normally glued them together, and their fighting sort of split the normally tight group.

While he was drinking a second cup of tea, said three boys joined him. He looked up in surprise.

"Good morning." He greeted uncertainly.

"This has to stop." Louis said firmly, ignoring him.

"What has to stop?" Lys retorted, though he did have a pretty good hunch.

"_This_." He clarified, gesturing to the empty seats next to him. "You've been acting like ten year olds for days on end now. It's enough. You're both idiots, and you both knew it before this happened. So why not bury the anger and move on?"

"Listen, I appreciate the concern, but nothing will be changing until Lorc actually changes."

"Oh for _Merlin's_ sake." This time it was Eric who spoke, yet another thing to surprise the Scamander twin. Eric had always been the person to understand Lys, who was remotely like him. "How many times have you said that before? I agree that this is the longest it's ever gone on, but really. Just learn to accept your brother, give us all a rest." They muttered for a bit before leaving him again. And his anger evaporated. Slowly, and he stared into the opposite wall for several minutes before his facial expression softened. Shaking his head, he made a decision and stood up. Feeling decidedly lighter at heart he moved quickly, barely seeing where he was going. Just as he was about to turn and run up the stairs, he bumped into someone rushing down them. The person let out a gasp and fell backwards, landing on the hard staircase.

"Oh bloody hell, I'm so sorry." Lysander rushed to say, offering the girl his hand and pulling her up. "Are you all right?" She gave him a small smile, panting a bit.

"Yeah, I'm fine, thanks."

"You sure? That was a bit of a fall." She grimaced.

"I'm fine, honest." She turned to pick up some books she'd dropped in the fall, and Lysander helped her. "Thanks." She said as he handed her The Standard Book of Spells, cradling it in her arms. "I'm Ellie by the way, Fitzgerald. And sorry I can't shake your hand."

"That's fine. I'm Lysander Scamander." He tipped his imaginary hat for her, and she laughed a tinkling sort of laugh.

"Ah, the Scamander twins. Quite the Quidditch players I've noticed." He grinned.

"Thanks."

"Any time." There was a slight silence before Lys spoke again:

"Do you need help with those books?" As if on cue, the top volume toppled and Lysander caught it swiftly before it had a chance to fall to the ground.

"I suppose I do." She replied, smiling. "I need a late breakfast, and I thought I'd get some studying done while I eat."

"I do that sometimes too." Said Lysander, following her back into the Great Hall and steering towards the Gryffindor table. Just like he had done earlier, she sat down on her own, where she had space to spread her books out. He placed her things carefully on the table.

"Thanks." She said. "Feels like I have the world on my shoulders already."

"I know the feeling." He nodded in agreement.

"Well, I should get started."

"Yeah, 'course. Nice meeting you." He gave her wave and then turned, heading back to the Entrance Hall. In the doorway he spotted his brother, who was staring at him with wide eyes and clenched jaw.

"Hey, Lorc…" he said, but his voice faded as he recognised the look of anger on Lorc's face. "What's up?"

"Why do you always have to take what I want?" he hissed. Lysander felt truly lost now.

"Excuse me?"

"You know, people always say you're so generous and kind, but I think that's bullshit."

"_What?_" Lorcan saved his breath, and let his fist do the talking. Lysander gasped as his brother's balled hand came in contact with his own face, and fell back onto the hard, stone floor.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

Realising what he'd done, Lorcan's eyes widened and he felt guilt over-ride him at his rash action. "Fuck, Lys..." he muttered, biting his lip and ducking onto the floor beside him as blood started pouring out of his nose. "I'm so sorry... I didn't mean... It was... I'm sorry..." he stuttered, eyes welling up at the hurt expression crossing his younger brother's face.

"Save it," the younger Scamander twin glared.

Time slowed down. "Lys, I'm so..."

"I said save it," he snapped. "Just go."

Lorcan bit his lip and decided that it was best to follow Lysander's instructions before the professors caught up to him. He knew he'd be getting in more trouble for this than all of his other unfortunate activities in Hogwarts put together.

He couldn't believe he'd just punched his younger brother in the face. Sure, Lys was only younger by a few minutes, but Lorc was still the older Scamander, and he still had to look out for him. Instead of making sure things like this didn't happen, he was making them happen himself. Some brother he was.

Guilt eating away at him, Lorcan muttered another apology and hastily made his way to the Ravenclaw common room.

This wasn't good. This wasn't good at all.

Opening the door to the boys' dorms, he found Eric, Ben and Louis sitting down, each at the foot of his own bed on the floor playing exploding snap.

Seeing Lorcan's distressed face, they all stopped playing at once, watching the boy as he paced for a second, trying to decide what to do with himself. He eventually decided on his bed, sitting himself against the headboard and thinking how much he desired to smoke right now.

_No, Lorcan. You quit. No starting again_, he told himself firmly, tilting his head back to look at one of the top corners of his four-poster and ignoring his friends' puzzling glances.

Finally, Eric decided it was best to say something. "Erm... Lorc?" he asked. "What's happened?"

Lorcan shrugged casually. "I may or may not have just hit my brother," he mumbled.

"What?" Eric asked loudly. "Scamander, you absolute _prick_!" He gave one last glare in the boy's direction and departed to find his friend, Louis not far behind him.

_You don't need to tell me that_, Lorc thought grudgingly. He knew he was stupid for what he'd done. He'd just been caught up in the heat of the moment and it had happened before he could help it.

Ben stuck around and sat at the end of Lorcan's bed. "You want to talk about it?" he asked quietly.

He remained silent for a while. "I just had a tiny moment of jealousy and... I didn't mean to, Ben, I swear," he told him quietly, frowning and feeling his eyes start to water again.

"I believe you," he nodded. "We all do things we know we shouldn't have. Sometimes we just act before thinking things through properly because we're humans and we make mistakes. He'll come around when he realises that, I'm sure he will."

_Wow, this boy really is meant to be a Ravenclaw_, Lorc thought in approval at the words of wisdom his best friend supplied him with.

"I guess," he replied awkwardly, thinking about the amount of trouble he'd get in for what he'd just done. One second losing self control could land somebody in a hell of a lot of trouble. If only he'd thought his actions through a little more carefully.

Thinking of that, he remembered the time Lysander and fallen on him, resulting in Lorcan breaking his arm. They were in the park when they were six with Luna and a game of Tag turned into a very painful game of St. Mungo's. He remembered it as though it was yesterday.

_Luna opened the gate for her sons and watched as they ran inside the park, desperate to start playing on the interesting muggle playing equipment. The large climbing frame was like a dream come true for the two boys who'd never set foot in this kind of toy-heaven before. Lysander decided that the sings seemed more fun, while Lorcan's idea of fun was climbing to the very top of the frame, over the side and making it into a very imaginative game where he was hanging off the side of a boat, large toothed sharks swimming directly below him, licking their lips at the sight of him._

_After a thrilling ten minutes of this fun little fantasy in which Lorcan saved some passing children (in other words uprooted from their own playing time and forced them to stay in one spot lest they get eaten by killer sharks) he decided that he'd finished that one adventure for the time being._

_When he told the children they could go, they were still standing in their allocated spot, trembling at what this bossy six year-old might do to them if they moved; even with his permission._

_Lysander, seeing the situation from the swings, decided he should step in and help. He climbed up the ladder clumsily, almost slipping twice, and crawled under the bar, skipping over to his brother and the terrified children._

"_Lysander, what are you doing?" he asked, raising an eyebrow at his twin._

_The two children, who seemed to be brother and sister, looked at each other when they saw Lys and screamed, running away at high speed and yelling about clones taking over the world._

_To the boys, they looked nothing alike. They really wondered why everybody got them mixed up, or even confused them as being one person in two different places. Honestly, that wasn't even possible!_

_Lorcan shrugged off the thought of the children and looked around casually, then targeted his eyes on Lys, standing there smiling as though he hadn't a care in the world. The younger boy was just admiring the view from the climbing frame (he'd never been this high up in his life without looking through glass) when his brother slapped his arm harshly, snapping him out of his daydream, and yelled "TAG!" loudly as he ran away._

_Lysander huffed at Lorcan's petty games, but decided that is he didn't win this game, Lorc would never let him hear the end of it, and Lys did _not_ want any more of that. His brother was competitive and mocking enough as it was without adding this to the pile._

_Lorc dashed down the slide, realising halfway that the weather was affecting its speed and sliding performance. He saw Lys gaining on him and stood up quickly, running off the end of the slide and jumping down, almost tripping as he hastily picked up speed._

_He made a circuit around the playground and realised that, despite his antics to put his brother down and make sure he knew who the oldest was that Lys was a relatively quick runner. It wasn't fair! Why couldn't he just slow down and not turn this into such a serious game? After all, it was only a little game of Tag, not a competition..._

_Though if he lost, Lorc would sulk for ages and give his brother the cold-shoulder, only talking to him when throwing an insult or mocking the way he did things differently._

_When Lorcan was winning, it was just a fun little game, but when he was losing, it was a full-blown war, and he'd take down everything and everyone he needed to to win using his tactful nature and skill._

_He stopped behind one of the swing poles, clinging onto it. When his brother caught up with him, he manoeuvred around it. He decided that he was going to lose if this silliness of walking slowly around the pole continued, so he turned and ran again._

_Lysander was no more than an inch from him when he suddenly lost his footing and tripped. Lys saw what was happening and reached out to grab his arm and save him from the fall, but as he did, he tripped up a small mound in the ground and ended up falling onto his brother instead._

_The loud crack that followed wasn't pleasant._

_Luna, seeing what had happened, rushed over to the boys and around at the muggle children and parents, observing them._

_She knew she could fix this herself with magic. She just had to get out of sight first._

_She couldn't take them out of view and quickly perform Episkey, lest people see that his arm had randomly fixed in a matter of seconds. No, Luna had to get them home quickly and sort out her son's arm._

If he hadn't wanted to win so badly that day, he wouldn't have had to go through all that agony when Lysander fell on him and accidentally broke his arm.

No wonder the Sorting Hat had almost placed him in Hufflepuff. Sure, he was a Ravenclaw who wasn't the smartest (though a hell of a lot smarter than most people) but he was a total all-rounder. He didn't like to admit it, but when it came to winning and getting his own way, he acted like a Slytherin.

That day was too easy to remember, too.

_The students waited patiently as the sorting ceremony started. The air was full of excited, yet nervous chatter. Lorcan grinned as he watched people get sorted into Ravenclaw, knowing that was where he and his brother would be going._

"_Rowenson Xavier."_

_The small boy in question walked up to the stool, trembling and lifted it above his head to pull it down. No sooner had it touched the neatly placed hairs on his head did it call out, "HUFFLEPUFF!"_

_Lorc watched as the boy smiled, obviously happy that he hadn't been told to leave Hogwarts because he wasn't a wizard. He found after talking to many of his family members that that had been their worry before being sorted._

"_Scamander, Lorcan," Professor McGonagall said clearly._

_Lysander looked up from his muttered conversation to Eric about the enchanted ceiling and smiled at his brother, giving him thumbs-up for good luck._

_He walked over to the stool and sat on it, finding that he wasn't excited any more. He was more nervous than he'd ever been in his entire life. He didn't even remember being nervous before at all. He'd always been relatively confident with his actions, never having the need to feel nervous._

_After placing the hat on his head, he found himself having that same feeling of not being sorted at all, especially after it stayed silent for a good five seconds._

"_Ah," it said quietly in his ear._

_Lorcan closed his eyes and bit his lip._

"_Brave, courageous, very smart and kind, but witty too... You have the makings of a very fine Hufflepuff."_

"_My brother will be a Ravenclaw!" he thought strongly, hoping this method of communication with the hat would work._

_Apparently it did. "You'd be the best Hufflepuff in your year, students would look up to you..."_

"_Please don't split us up," he thought again, thinking his strongest fear and feeling his eyes starting to sting._

"_If you're sure..." the hat said in reply, pausing for a second before opening his mouth again, the hall waiting in suspense at what house this poor little first-year would be sorted into after all the waiting. "RAVENCLAW!"_

_Lorcan's heart skipped a beat and he grinned widely. "Thank you," he thought, just as McGonagall took the hat from his head and called Lysander's name. He was sure that after the hat was taken from him that it whispered "You're welcome."_

He had to find Lysander and make this up to him. They were a team, they had to see past this and sort things out.

Excusing himself from Ben's presence, he left the dorms and made his way down the staircase and into the crowded common room.

* * *

** A/N **(Tielle)** - It's been a while! Sorry for the wait, I hope it was worth it!**


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